Below are two Borat clips. One is from the movie, where he meets with the perpetually failed Republican candidate Alan Keyes, who provides Borat with a shocking revelation about some friends Borat met at a parade. Unfortunately, whoever put this clip together on Youtube added some music that drowned out the dialog at the end.
The second clip is a very funny scene that was not included in the theatrical release but is one of the bonus scenes on the DVD. Personally, I think this scene should have been in the movie.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Whatever You Do, Don't Call Him Benny
I stumbled across this forum on a Catholic website a short while ago. The members were discussing, and in some cases arguing, over whether it is disrespectful to refer to Pope Benedict by various nicknames. The consensus was that you shouldn't call him Benny, though "the German Shepherd" might be okay. Even though the forum posts date back to April of 2005, they're worth checking out for a few good chuckles.
And while I am in Catholic teasing mode, while I was driving home this evening, I saw a car up ahead of me with a couple of bumperstickers on it that immediately identified the driver, an older lady, as a Catholic. One sticker read "WE LOVE OUR PRIESTS", clearly meant to be an affirmation of trust for the Catholic priesthood in the wake of the pedophile priest scandals. Fine.
But the second and more prominent sticker had me figuratively scratching my head. It boldly declared "ANGRY? NEED A WEAPON? PRAY THE ROSARY!" Uh, really? I don't know about that. I can see maybe using a string of rosary beads as a weapon. If you snuck up behind someone, you could probably strangle that person to death by wrapping the beads around his or her neck and pulling the cord tight. Or you could swing it like a mace and strike a mortal blow to the person's head. I wouldn't put to much faith in the efficacy of prayer though.
And while I am in Catholic teasing mode, while I was driving home this evening, I saw a car up ahead of me with a couple of bumperstickers on it that immediately identified the driver, an older lady, as a Catholic. One sticker read "WE LOVE OUR PRIESTS", clearly meant to be an affirmation of trust for the Catholic priesthood in the wake of the pedophile priest scandals. Fine.
But the second and more prominent sticker had me figuratively scratching my head. It boldly declared "ANGRY? NEED A WEAPON? PRAY THE ROSARY!" Uh, really? I don't know about that. I can see maybe using a string of rosary beads as a weapon. If you snuck up behind someone, you could probably strangle that person to death by wrapping the beads around his or her neck and pulling the cord tight. Or you could swing it like a mace and strike a mortal blow to the person's head. I wouldn't put to much faith in the efficacy of prayer though.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
How's That Freedom Working Out, Mister President?
From the opening of this article on the BBC web site:
"The upper house of the Afghan parliament has supported a death sentence issued against a journalist for blasphemy in northern Afghanistan."
Pervez Kambaksh, a 23-year old Afghan man "was convicted last week of downloading and distributing an article insulting Islam."
How about this as a suggestion for spreading freedom throughout the world? Make it part of our government's foreign policy that it will suspend aid and assistance to any country in the world that does not explicitly ban the death penalty for blasphemy. Here in America it is blindingly obvious, but perhaps the message needs to be shouted through a megaphone:
NOBODY DESERVES TO DIE FOR WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT THE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OF OTHERS!
You can give the Afghan Embassy here in the United States the message at:
info@embassyofafghanistan.org
"The upper house of the Afghan parliament has supported a death sentence issued against a journalist for blasphemy in northern Afghanistan."
Pervez Kambaksh, a 23-year old Afghan man "was convicted last week of downloading and distributing an article insulting Islam."
How about this as a suggestion for spreading freedom throughout the world? Make it part of our government's foreign policy that it will suspend aid and assistance to any country in the world that does not explicitly ban the death penalty for blasphemy. Here in America it is blindingly obvious, but perhaps the message needs to be shouted through a megaphone:
NOBODY DESERVES TO DIE FOR WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT THE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OF OTHERS!
You can give the Afghan Embassy here in the United States the message at:
info@embassyofafghanistan.org
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Updated Again: Martin Tankleff Massacres Entire Faculty and Student Body at Hofstra University
Okay, that's a very, very big exaggeration!
One of the biggest murder cases on Long Island in the last two decades was the brutal killing of Seymour and Arlene Tankleff in their Belle Terre home in 1988. Police immediately zeroed in on the Tankleff's 16-year old son Martin. He was convicted at trial in 1990. A useful summary of the case can be read in this Newsday article.
Recently, Martin Tankleff's conviction was overturned and he was released from prison. He is now currently attending classes at my alma mater, Hofstra University, as per this article in Newsday. The article mentions several students who are somewhat uneasy about having a person previously convicted of murder going to the same school as them.
One of the students frets "I think it's pretty unsafe if he's just here under no watch." With last year's Virginia Tech massacre in mind, one of the students interviewed by Newsday felt that Hofstra should have notified the student body that Tankleff would be attending their school.
Personally, I don't believe that Hofstra University had any obligation to notify its students about Tankleff. Lest we forget, his conviction was overturned. It's not a situation like a man who served time for rape was attending the university and there was a reasonable fear among female students that he might not be able to contain his urges if he came upon one of them in a dark, isolated part of the campus at night.
To be honest, not having followed the case that closely, I couldn't tell you 100% either way whether Martin Tankleff is innocent or guilty of the murder of his parents. That being the case, his conviction was overturned, and I personally give Martin Tankleff the benefit of the doubt that he is innocent. I wish him well as he starts his life over again as a free man after some seventeen years in prison. Still, his professors might want to be careful and not grade his term papers too harshly!
UPDATE: A commenter to this post has brought to my attention the website martytankleff.org. Go check it out if this case is of interest to you.
SECOND UPDATE: Newsday has published a couple of letters to the editor today critical of its story on Tankleff taking classes at Hofstra and the reactions to it by some of the Hofstra students mentioned in the article.
One of the biggest murder cases on Long Island in the last two decades was the brutal killing of Seymour and Arlene Tankleff in their Belle Terre home in 1988. Police immediately zeroed in on the Tankleff's 16-year old son Martin. He was convicted at trial in 1990. A useful summary of the case can be read in this Newsday article.
Recently, Martin Tankleff's conviction was overturned and he was released from prison. He is now currently attending classes at my alma mater, Hofstra University, as per this article in Newsday. The article mentions several students who are somewhat uneasy about having a person previously convicted of murder going to the same school as them.
One of the students frets "I think it's pretty unsafe if he's just here under no watch." With last year's Virginia Tech massacre in mind, one of the students interviewed by Newsday felt that Hofstra should have notified the student body that Tankleff would be attending their school.
Personally, I don't believe that Hofstra University had any obligation to notify its students about Tankleff. Lest we forget, his conviction was overturned. It's not a situation like a man who served time for rape was attending the university and there was a reasonable fear among female students that he might not be able to contain his urges if he came upon one of them in a dark, isolated part of the campus at night.
To be honest, not having followed the case that closely, I couldn't tell you 100% either way whether Martin Tankleff is innocent or guilty of the murder of his parents. That being the case, his conviction was overturned, and I personally give Martin Tankleff the benefit of the doubt that he is innocent. I wish him well as he starts his life over again as a free man after some seventeen years in prison. Still, his professors might want to be careful and not grade his term papers too harshly!
UPDATE: A commenter to this post has brought to my attention the website martytankleff.org. Go check it out if this case is of interest to you.
SECOND UPDATE: Newsday has published a couple of letters to the editor today critical of its story on Tankleff taking classes at Hofstra and the reactions to it by some of the Hofstra students mentioned in the article.
Open Thread: Are Humans A Virus?
My favorite scene from The Matrix is the clip above where Agent Smith tells the captured Morpheus what he thinks about the human race. Besides the interesting observation about humanity, I just love the way Hugo Weaving delivers his lines.
Do you agree with Agent Smith's pessimistic opinion of the human race? Are we just doomed to go on polluting our environment, driving countless species to extinction, and killing each other in conflict after conflict without end? Or, like me, do you cling to the hope, however faint it might be, that the human race collectively can eventually come to its senses and temper its worst impulses?
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Malaysia Must Really Suck
Like many bloggers, I have a sitemeter that not only tells me how much (or to be truthful, how little) traffic I am getting, but also where visitors to my blog are located.
Last year I did several posts criticizing Malaysia, here, here, and here, each one with the words "Malaysia Sucks" in the title. I have another reason for thinking that Malaysia really sucks of late, but at the moment I cannot reveal that reason.
At any rate, on a fairly frequent basis I get hits on my blog from Malaysia. Almost every time, the Malaysian visitor has found my blog by searching the term "Malaysia Sucks" on Google or some other search engine. I can only assume that there are a number of people who live in Malaysia who think that their country sucks too.
If you are a Malaysian or someone in currently in Malaysia who has found this blog by typing "Malaysia Sucks" in an internet search engine, I would love to hear from you why you think Malaysia sucks.
Last year I did several posts criticizing Malaysia, here, here, and here, each one with the words "Malaysia Sucks" in the title. I have another reason for thinking that Malaysia really sucks of late, but at the moment I cannot reveal that reason.
At any rate, on a fairly frequent basis I get hits on my blog from Malaysia. Almost every time, the Malaysian visitor has found my blog by searching the term "Malaysia Sucks" on Google or some other search engine. I can only assume that there are a number of people who live in Malaysia who think that their country sucks too.
If you are a Malaysian or someone in currently in Malaysia who has found this blog by typing "Malaysia Sucks" in an internet search engine, I would love to hear from you why you think Malaysia sucks.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Celebrity Spotting of the Day
One of the small perks of working in Manhattan is that you frequently spot celebrities walking past you on the street or waiting in line at Starbucks.
Today I went into work late because of a meeting about my son at his school this morning. On the way to my office from Penn Station, I went into the Cosi restaurant on 7th Avenue between 36th and 37th Streets to get something to eat for lunch. However, the line was too long, so I turned around to walk out. As I headed for the door, an attractive older woman with red hair seated to my right with her back to the window caught my eye. She looked very familiar to me and I realized it was the actress Annette O'Toole. She was talking to a man who sat on the other side of her table, and as I got to the door, they were directly to my right. I realized that I recognized the man as well. I couldn't recall his name, but I knew it was the guy who played Lenny on Laverne & Shirley and one of the band members in the cult classic This Is Spinal Tap.
So, I googled Annette O'Toole, and was surprised to learn that the man she was with, actor Michael McKean, was also her husband. Whether O'Toole and McKean frequent Cosi enough to rack up enough points on their Cosi card for a free coffee I couldn't say.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Friday Funnies - Pulp Fiction - The Watch
This is a classic scene from Quentin Tarantino's movie Pulp Fiction. Christopher Walken delivers his lines as, well, as only Christopher Walken can deliver them. What makes the scene funny is the buildup to the conclusion of the story that Walken's Captain Koons tells the young Butch.
UPDATED: The End of Mike Huckabee?
The atheist and liberal blogosphere has been having a field day lately with Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Consequently, I shied away from writing about Huckabee, because I did not feel I had anything original to contribute.
With his failure to beat Senator John McCain in the South Carolina primary, a state with a large number of evangelical voters, I think it is safe to say that Mike Huckabee's candidacy is now on the fast track to irrelevancy. His victory in Iowa was a flash in the pan and he has not won a single state since then. So much for "God's Army"!
It looks increasingly likely that in the coming weeks, the contest for the Republican nomination will be between McCain and Mitt Romney.
UPDATE: In the wake of Huckabee's defeat in the South Carolina primary, his campaign is having difficulty raising more funds, as reported in this article in the Los Angeles Times (login necessary).
Here's an excerpt:
On the heels of a crucial loss in the South Carolina Republican primary, Mike Huckabee acknowledged Tuesday that he had cut back his campaign operation in Florida, which holds its primary Tuesday.
At least one person was fired, and other aides quit, according to people with the campaign. Several senior staffers have volunteered to work without pay.
"Right now we're replenishing our coffers," said Bob Wickers, Huckabee's media consultant."It's just a bottomless pit in Florida," he added, referring to the high cost of TV ads.
Wickers acknowledged that Huckabee's loss in South Carolina on Saturday had made it more difficult to raise money.
The financial disarray comes a week before the closely fought Republican primary in Florida, a large state that poses logistical problems for any candidate.
The state can't be covered with campaign rallies alone, and a 10-day cycle of TV ads in Florida can cost as much as $2 million. Even with the staff reductions, the campaign can't afford network TV advertising rates and will instead concentrate on cable TV, Wickers said.
With his failure to beat Senator John McCain in the South Carolina primary, a state with a large number of evangelical voters, I think it is safe to say that Mike Huckabee's candidacy is now on the fast track to irrelevancy. His victory in Iowa was a flash in the pan and he has not won a single state since then. So much for "God's Army"!
It looks increasingly likely that in the coming weeks, the contest for the Republican nomination will be between McCain and Mitt Romney.
UPDATE: In the wake of Huckabee's defeat in the South Carolina primary, his campaign is having difficulty raising more funds, as reported in this article in the Los Angeles Times (login necessary).
Here's an excerpt:
On the heels of a crucial loss in the South Carolina Republican primary, Mike Huckabee acknowledged Tuesday that he had cut back his campaign operation in Florida, which holds its primary Tuesday.
At least one person was fired, and other aides quit, according to people with the campaign. Several senior staffers have volunteered to work without pay.
"Right now we're replenishing our coffers," said Bob Wickers, Huckabee's media consultant."It's just a bottomless pit in Florida," he added, referring to the high cost of TV ads.
Wickers acknowledged that Huckabee's loss in South Carolina on Saturday had made it more difficult to raise money.
The financial disarray comes a week before the closely fought Republican primary in Florida, a large state that poses logistical problems for any candidate.
The state can't be covered with campaign rallies alone, and a 10-day cycle of TV ads in Florida can cost as much as $2 million. Even with the staff reductions, the campaign can't afford network TV advertising rates and will instead concentrate on cable TV, Wickers said.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Pig Roast
No Filipino celebration, regardless of the occasion, is complete without a pig roast.My wife's sister's wedding reception was held right on the beach at the Bohol Beach Club. The lovely bridesmaid in blue helping herself to some of the pickings is my wife's youngest sister Josie.
The Dauis Church
This church is located in the town of Dauis on Panglao Island, just a few minutes drive outside of Tagbilaran City. The Dauis Church, according to my travel guide, was built in 1784. Like many of the churches on the island, it is built of sturdy stone and is accompanied by a watchtower (in this case, the watchtower is in back of the church). The people of Bohol would often have to take refuge in the churches when sentinels on the watchtowers spotted Moro raiders coming up the channel from Mindanao.My wife's sister Mia was married in this church on June 26, 2004, and I took this photo after the ceremony was concluded, if memory serves. Unfortunately, the church being over 200 years old, it did not have air conditioning! My son, who was only three at the time, had a major tantrum after the mass had ended, having to suffer through the ceremony in a tuxedo.
Even if you are not religious, like me, the churches of Bohol are still interesting to visit both for their architectural beauty and their historical significance.
The Philippine Tarsier
I was going over some of the pictures I took from my first visit with my wife and kids to visit her family in the Philippines back in the summer of 2004. I may end up starting a second blog dedicated exclusively to my wife's home island of Bohol. But for now I thought I would belatedly share some pictures from the 2004 trip.
The cute, cuddly looking creature below is the Philippine Tarsier. The tarsier is the world's smallest primate, and as you can see, it has enormous eyes, which it employs in hunting for its food at night. These pictures were taken at the Tarsier sanctuary in Corella, which is north of Bohol's capital, Tagbilaran City.
The cute, cuddly looking creature below is the Philippine Tarsier. The tarsier is the world's smallest primate, and as you can see, it has enormous eyes, which it employs in hunting for its food at night. These pictures were taken at the Tarsier sanctuary in Corella, which is north of Bohol's capital, Tagbilaran City.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Movie Review - I Am Legend
Yesterday I took my son with me to see I Am Legend. Unfortunately, I made a mistake in seeing it at the IMAX® theater at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Uniondale. Don't get me wrong, it is a great IMAX theater. The theater is inside a dome and features a 180 degree screen that enhances the visual effects of movies, particular in scenes that feature flying or other such motions. However, I Am Legend was not shot in an IMAX format, so it did not translate well to this particular theater's screen.
First off, having been aware of the mixed reviews the movie received, I did not expect I Am Legend to be the greatest movie ever made. It ended up being exactly what I wanted out of it, a decent movie that held my interest. Will Smith basically has to carry the entire movie on his shoulders, and he manages to pull it off. His dog, called Samantha, also is likeable, and should be nominated for a best supporting animal award. :-)
Most of the movie consists of Smith's military scientist Robert Neville and the aforementioned Samantha looking for food, supplies and engaging in some recreational activities in a deserted Manhattan during the day, and waiting at mid-day at the South Street Seaport for anyone who might have heard his daily broadcast. Nights are spent huddled in Neville's fortified Washington Square Park home hiding from the lurking threat outside. Neville still is engaged in his self-driven mission to try to find a cure for the virus that wiped out billions of people while turning many of the survivors into vampiric mutants.
I have not read the book I Am Legend, from which the movie is loosely adapted, though I did read a synopsis. I have seen the Charlton Heston film The Omega Man several times and I do recall watching the Vincent Price version The Last Man on Earth when I was a child. In The Omega Man, the infected were not monsters, though the virus turned them into albino-like beings that could not tolerate sunlight. They had formed some kind of bizarre cult called "The Family", and in ideology were like religious fanatics trying to destroy Heston's immune Robert Neville, who for them represented the last living reminder of the human race that was responsible for the world's ills. In the Will Smith film, the infected are violent creatures who are seemingly incapable of rational thought, a conclusion that Smith's Neville arrives at, to his later misfortune.
What I found interesting about the portrayal of a Manhattan devoid of humans in the year 2012 is that it jibes with the description of an abandoned Manhattan as depicted in the book The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. I don't know if the writers for I Am Legend consulted with Weisman in creating the look for a post-human Manhattan, though it would not surprise me if they did. I have not read Weisman's book yet, though I did read an excerpt in a recent issue of Scientific American that focused a lot on what would happen in Manhattan. The buzz around Weisman's book also sparked a History Channel special that aired last night called Life After People. It too featured a glimpse of what Manhattan would look like several years after humanity vanished.
While I generally liked I Am Legend, I thought of things that might have been done to make it a better movie for me. At various points in the film we witness flashbacks of Neville trying to get his wife and daughter out of Manhattan before it is completely quarantined. We can assume that Neville was going to have other personnel with him while remaining in Manhattan to try and stop the virus. I would have liked a flashback scene included that showed the last humans with Neville succumbing to the virus and/or the "darkseekers". When we last see Neville's captured "darkseeker", the antivirus he has injected into her is starting to work because he has also put ice around the darkseeker in order to enhance the drug's effects, but we never see where Neville gets the idea to do it, because in a previous scene the antivirus appears to be a failure. I suspect that after the scene where Anna tells him about the alleged survivor's camp in Vermont and that the virus does not seem to work in the cold, Neville gets upset with her and leaves her for a while to be alone. I wonder if there might be a deleted scene where Neville decides to put ice on the darkseeker after pondering what Anna had told him.
Some atheist bloggers who reviewed this movie blanched at the ending dialogue, where Neville appears to accept Anna's explanation that what is happening is part of God's plan. I don't think it necessarily has to be the case. Seconds after he sees the beneficial effects the ice is having on the captured darkseeker in conjunction with the antivirus, the attacking darkseekers threaten to break into the lab. Neville realizes there is only one alternative left if he truly wants his work to have any meaning, and he chooses that alternative. I won't give away the ending to any readers here who have not seen the movie, but based on the trailer below, it looks like the DVD will have an alternate ending as well.
First off, having been aware of the mixed reviews the movie received, I did not expect I Am Legend to be the greatest movie ever made. It ended up being exactly what I wanted out of it, a decent movie that held my interest. Will Smith basically has to carry the entire movie on his shoulders, and he manages to pull it off. His dog, called Samantha, also is likeable, and should be nominated for a best supporting animal award. :-)
Most of the movie consists of Smith's military scientist Robert Neville and the aforementioned Samantha looking for food, supplies and engaging in some recreational activities in a deserted Manhattan during the day, and waiting at mid-day at the South Street Seaport for anyone who might have heard his daily broadcast. Nights are spent huddled in Neville's fortified Washington Square Park home hiding from the lurking threat outside. Neville still is engaged in his self-driven mission to try to find a cure for the virus that wiped out billions of people while turning many of the survivors into vampiric mutants.
I have not read the book I Am Legend, from which the movie is loosely adapted, though I did read a synopsis. I have seen the Charlton Heston film The Omega Man several times and I do recall watching the Vincent Price version The Last Man on Earth when I was a child. In The Omega Man, the infected were not monsters, though the virus turned them into albino-like beings that could not tolerate sunlight. They had formed some kind of bizarre cult called "The Family", and in ideology were like religious fanatics trying to destroy Heston's immune Robert Neville, who for them represented the last living reminder of the human race that was responsible for the world's ills. In the Will Smith film, the infected are violent creatures who are seemingly incapable of rational thought, a conclusion that Smith's Neville arrives at, to his later misfortune.
What I found interesting about the portrayal of a Manhattan devoid of humans in the year 2012 is that it jibes with the description of an abandoned Manhattan as depicted in the book The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. I don't know if the writers for I Am Legend consulted with Weisman in creating the look for a post-human Manhattan, though it would not surprise me if they did. I have not read Weisman's book yet, though I did read an excerpt in a recent issue of Scientific American that focused a lot on what would happen in Manhattan. The buzz around Weisman's book also sparked a History Channel special that aired last night called Life After People. It too featured a glimpse of what Manhattan would look like several years after humanity vanished.
While I generally liked I Am Legend, I thought of things that might have been done to make it a better movie for me. At various points in the film we witness flashbacks of Neville trying to get his wife and daughter out of Manhattan before it is completely quarantined. We can assume that Neville was going to have other personnel with him while remaining in Manhattan to try and stop the virus. I would have liked a flashback scene included that showed the last humans with Neville succumbing to the virus and/or the "darkseekers". When we last see Neville's captured "darkseeker", the antivirus he has injected into her is starting to work because he has also put ice around the darkseeker in order to enhance the drug's effects, but we never see where Neville gets the idea to do it, because in a previous scene the antivirus appears to be a failure. I suspect that after the scene where Anna tells him about the alleged survivor's camp in Vermont and that the virus does not seem to work in the cold, Neville gets upset with her and leaves her for a while to be alone. I wonder if there might be a deleted scene where Neville decides to put ice on the darkseeker after pondering what Anna had told him.
Some atheist bloggers who reviewed this movie blanched at the ending dialogue, where Neville appears to accept Anna's explanation that what is happening is part of God's plan. I don't think it necessarily has to be the case. Seconds after he sees the beneficial effects the ice is having on the captured darkseeker in conjunction with the antivirus, the attacking darkseekers threaten to break into the lab. Neville realizes there is only one alternative left if he truly wants his work to have any meaning, and he chooses that alternative. I won't give away the ending to any readers here who have not seen the movie, but based on the trailer below, it looks like the DVD will have an alternate ending as well.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Dangerously Gullible
The February 2008 edition of Mother Jones magazine has an interesting article about the belief "among evangelical Christians (and some Orthodox Jews) that Scripture foretells a massive oil find in the Holy Land" and how gullible people forked over their money to liars and frauds who claimed that they could tap that oil and help bring about Armageddon.
The opening paragraph of the article, titled "Let There Be Light Crude" describes a James Cojanis, "a 70-year old retiree" who was "sitting in his San Jose home with the radio tuned to a popular Christian show called The Prophecy Club." The featured guest was Harold "Hayseed" Stephens, who told listeners that "the greatest oil field on Earth is under the southwest corner of the Dead Sea" and his company, "Ness Energy International, was about to tap into it. In doing so, he said, it would drain the oil fields of the Persian Gulf, prompt Arab countries to attack Israel, and at last touch off the great battle that would usher in the end of days."
We learn from the article that Cojanis purchased $120,000 in Ness stock, which has since plummeted to $3,000. Ness had never even acquired exploration rights in Israel. But according to the article, Cojanis remains undeterred. "When they hit oil and the stock goes skyhigh, that means Armageddon is around the corner."
Stories about people who are suckered by con artists are a dime a dozen, especially among the elderly who are trying to make ends meet or are not in full possession of their faculties. Almost everybody would like to strike it big and become rich. But what is frightening about James Cojanis is that he enthusiastically invested in a shady scheme that he hoped would bring about World War Three. He is not someone looking to get rich. He actively wants to participate in a plot that would results in countless numbers of people getting killed if it actualy had a chance to succeed. Cojanis and others like him are not just gullible, they are dangerously gullible.
The online version of the article is available here.
The opening paragraph of the article, titled "Let There Be Light Crude" describes a James Cojanis, "a 70-year old retiree" who was "sitting in his San Jose home with the radio tuned to a popular Christian show called The Prophecy Club." The featured guest was Harold "Hayseed" Stephens, who told listeners that "the greatest oil field on Earth is under the southwest corner of the Dead Sea" and his company, "Ness Energy International, was about to tap into it. In doing so, he said, it would drain the oil fields of the Persian Gulf, prompt Arab countries to attack Israel, and at last touch off the great battle that would usher in the end of days."
We learn from the article that Cojanis purchased $120,000 in Ness stock, which has since plummeted to $3,000. Ness had never even acquired exploration rights in Israel. But according to the article, Cojanis remains undeterred. "When they hit oil and the stock goes skyhigh, that means Armageddon is around the corner."
Stories about people who are suckered by con artists are a dime a dozen, especially among the elderly who are trying to make ends meet or are not in full possession of their faculties. Almost everybody would like to strike it big and become rich. But what is frightening about James Cojanis is that he enthusiastically invested in a shady scheme that he hoped would bring about World War Three. He is not someone looking to get rich. He actively wants to participate in a plot that would results in countless numbers of people getting killed if it actualy had a chance to succeed. Cojanis and others like him are not just gullible, they are dangerously gullible.
The online version of the article is available here.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
The Dumbest Argument Against Atheism Ever
The hat tip to this is a commenter named Pyre @ #9 in the comments for this post at Pharyngula.
Pyre linked to this op-ed in The Jakarta Post by someone named Evi Mariani. Mariani complains that atheism apparently takes all the fun out of life. Life is more entertaining if you believe in ghosts and superstitions. Also, atheism is expensive, because if you cannot afford doctors and hospitals to treat illnesses, then you cannot seek help from witch doctors if you do not believe in their ability to cure you.
The one thing that ran true for me in the article was the author's exchanges with the atheist Australian. I had the same conversation with my Indonesian friend. She was telling me about all of the superstitions and stories she heard about people dying from magic spells and other such things. I told her that such things could not really be true and that there had to be rational explanations for the things she described to me.
Pyre linked to this op-ed in The Jakarta Post by someone named Evi Mariani. Mariani complains that atheism apparently takes all the fun out of life. Life is more entertaining if you believe in ghosts and superstitions. Also, atheism is expensive, because if you cannot afford doctors and hospitals to treat illnesses, then you cannot seek help from witch doctors if you do not believe in their ability to cure you.
The one thing that ran true for me in the article was the author's exchanges with the atheist Australian. I had the same conversation with my Indonesian friend. She was telling me about all of the superstitions and stories she heard about people dying from magic spells and other such things. I told her that such things could not really be true and that there had to be rational explanations for the things she described to me.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Yeah, Whatever Lady
For some reason, I received in the mail today this week's edition of The Long Island Catholic, which is the newspaper for the Diocese of Rockville Centre.
I browsed through it looking for anything that might make for some good material for the blog. The best I found was a Letter to the Editor by one Judy C. of Smithtown.
After decrying the commercialization of Christmas, she further writes, with my own commentary interspersed in parentheses:
"This year, I tried to make a point of saying Merry Christmas to just about every person I came in contact with, even sales people. (It's my fucking holiday dammit, and you better fucking acknowledge it!) I celebrated at Mass too, trying for a brief moment to forget all the other things that take up so much room in my life.
There are some in my family who don't celebrate Christmas. They don't make room for the Baby Jesus. (Sorry lady, but I already had two babies. I fed them, bathed them, and changed their soiled diapers. Baby Jesus is going to have to go somewhere else. I heard tell that there's a manger in Bethlehem that might have some room for the brat.) For some, he's kind of a joke... and the baby that shepherds and kings looked for and longed for is just a little plastic statue that people put under their trees. (Wait a second lady, first you're complaining that nobody wants to make room for Jesus, but when they do make room for him by putting his little plastic statue under their tree, you're still not happy!) The baby has no place in their busy lives. It saddens me that they don't know Christmas... the REAL Christmas. So, I made it a point to read the Nativity narrative in Luke's Gospel this Christmas. I sat by the tree and played some Christmas carols softly while I read out loud. Who was I reading to? Why Jesus, of course! (And I'm sure he was really listening too.)
One thing that has always irked me is when Christians put the adjective "baby" in front of Jesus. It's like they are purposefully trying to make the Jesus of the Bible out to be some cute, harmless little infant. "H-h-how can you be against Jesus? Why he's just a baby!" I noticed Bill O'Reilly often uses this tactic on his Fox News program. He declares "they're afraid of the Baby Jesus." No asshole, we're not afraid of a baby Jesus. We're afraid of the damage that some of his followers will inflict on this nation if they get their hands on the levers of power.
I browsed through it looking for anything that might make for some good material for the blog. The best I found was a Letter to the Editor by one Judy C. of Smithtown.
After decrying the commercialization of Christmas, she further writes, with my own commentary interspersed in parentheses:
"This year, I tried to make a point of saying Merry Christmas to just about every person I came in contact with, even sales people. (It's my fucking holiday dammit, and you better fucking acknowledge it!) I celebrated at Mass too, trying for a brief moment to forget all the other things that take up so much room in my life.
There are some in my family who don't celebrate Christmas. They don't make room for the Baby Jesus. (Sorry lady, but I already had two babies. I fed them, bathed them, and changed their soiled diapers. Baby Jesus is going to have to go somewhere else. I heard tell that there's a manger in Bethlehem that might have some room for the brat.) For some, he's kind of a joke... and the baby that shepherds and kings looked for and longed for is just a little plastic statue that people put under their trees. (Wait a second lady, first you're complaining that nobody wants to make room for Jesus, but when they do make room for him by putting his little plastic statue under their tree, you're still not happy!) The baby has no place in their busy lives. It saddens me that they don't know Christmas... the REAL Christmas. So, I made it a point to read the Nativity narrative in Luke's Gospel this Christmas. I sat by the tree and played some Christmas carols softly while I read out loud. Who was I reading to? Why Jesus, of course! (And I'm sure he was really listening too.)
One thing that has always irked me is when Christians put the adjective "baby" in front of Jesus. It's like they are purposefully trying to make the Jesus of the Bible out to be some cute, harmless little infant. "H-h-how can you be against Jesus? Why he's just a baby!" I noticed Bill O'Reilly often uses this tactic on his Fox News program. He declares "they're afraid of the Baby Jesus." No asshole, we're not afraid of a baby Jesus. We're afraid of the damage that some of his followers will inflict on this nation if they get their hands on the levers of power.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Indonesia - Islam's Giant with Clay Feet
The most populous Muslim nation in the world is Indonesia, a vast archipelago of islands that straddles South East Asia from Thailand to Australia. And with a total population of some 234 million people, Indonesia ranks as the fourth largest country in numbers of persons, after China, India, and the United States.
For those of us who are concerned about the spread of Islamic radicalism, Indonesia, with its dire poverty and its proximity to international trade routes, clearly merits concern. Islamic fundamentalist groups tend to thrive in poor countries where the government is corrupt and there is a lack of basic social services, and Indonesia is certainly a prime candidate in this regard.
Indonesia is home to a bonafide Muslim terrorist organization, Jemaah Islamiyah, which was behind the Bali bombings of 2002 and 2005, as well as the 2004 bombing of the Australian Embassy, among others. Recently, the Indonesian branch of Hizb-ut-Tahrir, an organization dedicated to setting up a worldwide Muslim caliphate, packed a stadium with nearly 100,000 followers. In some parts of the country, particularly in Aceh province on the island of Sumatra, sharia law has been enforced. See my post on this from December of 2006.
Nevertheless, despite some discouraging signs, it would appear that Indonesia is not on the verge of turning into an Islamic theocracy any time in the near future. Recently, I spoke with my Indonesian friend Lucy, who could be considered a double minority in Indonesia; religiously she is a Catholic and ethnically she is Chinese. Before arriving in the United States last month on a student visa, Lucy lived and worked in Indonesia's bustling capital city, Jakarta. I asked her a number of questions to get her perspective of living as a Christian in a Muslim majority nation.
Lucy assured me that Jakarta was a fairly tolerant city with respect to the practice of religion. She told me that she does not feel any pressure to convert to Islam, nor is she harrassed about not wearing a headscarf. However, Lucy did tell me that such toleration did not extend to Christians being allowed to proselytize Muslims. She also confirmed that in marriages wherein a Muslim married a Christian, it was generally the case that the Christian would convert to Islam and not the other way around. However, in certain instances where a Muslim was marrying a wealthy Christian, it is not unheard of that the Muslim will convert to Christianity.
One of the more annoying things that Lucy finds about living in a Muslim country is the call to prayer every morning, around 4 a.m. she told me. Lucy complained that it is very loud and close to her apartment, and if she happens to wake up during that time, she finds it hard to get back to sleep.
I also queried Lucy about Indonesian Muslim attitudes towards Americans and the United States. She said that anti-American attitudes have increased in Indonesia, particularly since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. I asked her if Indonesians differentiated between policies of the Bush Administration with which they disagreed from attitudes towards Americans in general. She replied that they did not, since it was the American people who voted for him. (I wasn't about to get into the 2000 election, where Gore won the popular vote.) Indonesians felt that Americans were responsible for the actions of their government. Amusingly, Lucy told me that Indonesians had an acronym for Democrats, NATO, or "No action, talk only".
When it came to Islamic fundamentalists, Lucy told me that while their numbers had grown since 9/11, they still had not grown by much in comparison with the population and that they were not very influential. Lucy's observations seemed to jibe with the findings of a recent article on Indonesian Islam in The Economist. Islam in Indonesia is still infused with elements of native mysticism, and the geography of the nation itself makes it virtually impossible for a strict, unified religious doctrine to be imposed on its 234 million people.
While there are organized groups trying to impose a strict sharia based Islam in Indonesia, such as the aforementioned Hizb-ut-Tahrir, there are also organizations trying to actively counter them with a more moderate form of Islam that promotes a separation of mosque and state. One such organization is the Wahid Institute, which is headed by Yenny Wahid, the daughter of Abdurrahman Wahid, who was president of Indonesia from 1999 to 2001.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Ms. Wahid warns of the consequences of an Indonesia under the control of radical Muslims: "It is big enough to destabilize the region." She says, "imagine if Indonesia became a hotbed for terrorism, or a source for people to get martyrs from. We've got enough people to provide an army of terrorists if we're not careful."
So, for the time being, it does not appear that Indonesia will become some Islamic colossus spreading jihad throughout South East Asia. Here's to hoping that people like Yenny Wahid will help to keep it that way.
For those of us who are concerned about the spread of Islamic radicalism, Indonesia, with its dire poverty and its proximity to international trade routes, clearly merits concern. Islamic fundamentalist groups tend to thrive in poor countries where the government is corrupt and there is a lack of basic social services, and Indonesia is certainly a prime candidate in this regard.
Indonesia is home to a bonafide Muslim terrorist organization, Jemaah Islamiyah, which was behind the Bali bombings of 2002 and 2005, as well as the 2004 bombing of the Australian Embassy, among others. Recently, the Indonesian branch of Hizb-ut-Tahrir, an organization dedicated to setting up a worldwide Muslim caliphate, packed a stadium with nearly 100,000 followers. In some parts of the country, particularly in Aceh province on the island of Sumatra, sharia law has been enforced. See my post on this from December of 2006.
Nevertheless, despite some discouraging signs, it would appear that Indonesia is not on the verge of turning into an Islamic theocracy any time in the near future. Recently, I spoke with my Indonesian friend Lucy, who could be considered a double minority in Indonesia; religiously she is a Catholic and ethnically she is Chinese. Before arriving in the United States last month on a student visa, Lucy lived and worked in Indonesia's bustling capital city, Jakarta. I asked her a number of questions to get her perspective of living as a Christian in a Muslim majority nation.
Lucy assured me that Jakarta was a fairly tolerant city with respect to the practice of religion. She told me that she does not feel any pressure to convert to Islam, nor is she harrassed about not wearing a headscarf. However, Lucy did tell me that such toleration did not extend to Christians being allowed to proselytize Muslims. She also confirmed that in marriages wherein a Muslim married a Christian, it was generally the case that the Christian would convert to Islam and not the other way around. However, in certain instances where a Muslim was marrying a wealthy Christian, it is not unheard of that the Muslim will convert to Christianity.
One of the more annoying things that Lucy finds about living in a Muslim country is the call to prayer every morning, around 4 a.m. she told me. Lucy complained that it is very loud and close to her apartment, and if she happens to wake up during that time, she finds it hard to get back to sleep.
I also queried Lucy about Indonesian Muslim attitudes towards Americans and the United States. She said that anti-American attitudes have increased in Indonesia, particularly since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. I asked her if Indonesians differentiated between policies of the Bush Administration with which they disagreed from attitudes towards Americans in general. She replied that they did not, since it was the American people who voted for him. (I wasn't about to get into the 2000 election, where Gore won the popular vote.) Indonesians felt that Americans were responsible for the actions of their government. Amusingly, Lucy told me that Indonesians had an acronym for Democrats, NATO, or "No action, talk only".
When it came to Islamic fundamentalists, Lucy told me that while their numbers had grown since 9/11, they still had not grown by much in comparison with the population and that they were not very influential. Lucy's observations seemed to jibe with the findings of a recent article on Indonesian Islam in The Economist. Islam in Indonesia is still infused with elements of native mysticism, and the geography of the nation itself makes it virtually impossible for a strict, unified religious doctrine to be imposed on its 234 million people.
While there are organized groups trying to impose a strict sharia based Islam in Indonesia, such as the aforementioned Hizb-ut-Tahrir, there are also organizations trying to actively counter them with a more moderate form of Islam that promotes a separation of mosque and state. One such organization is the Wahid Institute, which is headed by Yenny Wahid, the daughter of Abdurrahman Wahid, who was president of Indonesia from 1999 to 2001.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Ms. Wahid warns of the consequences of an Indonesia under the control of radical Muslims: "It is big enough to destabilize the region." She says, "imagine if Indonesia became a hotbed for terrorism, or a source for people to get martyrs from. We've got enough people to provide an army of terrorists if we're not careful."
So, for the time being, it does not appear that Indonesia will become some Islamic colossus spreading jihad throughout South East Asia. Here's to hoping that people like Yenny Wahid will help to keep it that way.
Monday, January 14, 2008
The E-Waste Dilemma
The January 13 edition of Newsday had a timely and important editorial on the problem of "e-waste", that is old tv sets, computer monitors, and other electronic equipment.
And what is the problem with "e-waste"? According to the Newsday editorial, "E-waste is a disproportionate source of the heavy metals in landfills. Up to 40 percent of the buried lead comes from e-waste, which also contains cadmium and mercury."
The editorial notes that less than 10% of New York City's e-waste is recycled. "A lot of it gets picked up by sanitation workers. They toss it into their packer trucks, which crush the machines, releasing toxins that can damage the workers' health. And much of the city's e-waste ends up in the incinerator in Newark. From there, the toxic fumes can easily drift to Manhattan, where the e-waste originated."
Courtesy of National Geographic, here is an overview of the toxic components in our computer harddrives and monitors.
Sadly, as this article from this month's issue of National Geographic reveals, the Newsday editorial barely scratches the surface of the problem.
Even if you try to do the right thing and bring your old computer to a recycling company here in the United States, there is a good chance that it might end up being shipped overseas to a developing country where environmental standards are non-existent. In Ghana, poor people burn the flame-retardant insulation off of the copper wire in order to sell the copper to a scrap metal dealer.
The article's author describes the scene as follows:
"They break copper yokes off picture tubes, littering the ground with shards containing lead, a neurotoxin, and cadmium, a carcinogen that damages lungs and kidneys. They strip resalable parts such as drives and memory chips. Then they rip out the wiring and burn the plastic. [Mensah] sells copper stripped from one scrap load to buy another. The key to making money is speed, not safety. 'The gas goes to your nose and you feel something in your head,' Mensah says, knocking his fist against the back of his skull for effect. 'Then you get sick in your head and your chest.' Nearby, hulls of broken monitors float in the lagoon. Tomorrow the rain will wash them into the ocean."
The problem is especially severe in Asia, particularly China. The organization called the Basel Action Network, or BAN, which is opposed to the shipment of hazardous waste to poor countries in the developing world, did an eye-opening documentary on the town of Guiyu in Guangdong Province called Exporting Harm. According to BAN's press release, they found that:
"men, women and children toiling under primitive conditions, often unaware of the health and environmental hazards involved in operations which include open burning of plastics and wires, riverbank acid works to extract gold, melting and burning of toxic soldered circuit boards and the cracking and dumping of toxic lead laden cathode ray tubes. The investigative team witnessed many tons of the E-waste simply being dumped along rivers, in open fields and irrigation canals in the rice growing area. Already the pollution in Guiyu has become so devastating that well water is no longer drinkable and thus water has to be trucked in from 30 kilometers away for the entire population."
The problem is only destined to become worse, at least for the foreseeable future. The National Geographic article cites "Moore's Law", named after Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, who "observed that computer processing power roughly doubles every two years." That means, according to the article, "that at any given time, all the machines considered state-of-the-art are simultaneously on the verge of obsolesence." Furthermore, "a switchover to digital high-definition television broadcasts is scheduled to be complete by 2009, rendering inoperable TVs that function perfectly today but receive only an analog signal."
Below is a segment from a Canadian news report that provides a useful, if grim summary, on the problem. It is worth watching.
It is natural for us to think that once we put something out on the curb to be collected by the sanitation department, we no longer have to care about what happens to our trash. But what we buy and how we dispose of it has real consequences for real people in many places around the globe. Now that you have read this post, you can't say you haven't been put on notice.
And what is the problem with "e-waste"? According to the Newsday editorial, "E-waste is a disproportionate source of the heavy metals in landfills. Up to 40 percent of the buried lead comes from e-waste, which also contains cadmium and mercury."
The editorial notes that less than 10% of New York City's e-waste is recycled. "A lot of it gets picked up by sanitation workers. They toss it into their packer trucks, which crush the machines, releasing toxins that can damage the workers' health. And much of the city's e-waste ends up in the incinerator in Newark. From there, the toxic fumes can easily drift to Manhattan, where the e-waste originated."
Courtesy of National Geographic, here is an overview of the toxic components in our computer harddrives and monitors.
Sadly, as this article from this month's issue of National Geographic reveals, the Newsday editorial barely scratches the surface of the problem.
Even if you try to do the right thing and bring your old computer to a recycling company here in the United States, there is a good chance that it might end up being shipped overseas to a developing country where environmental standards are non-existent. In Ghana, poor people burn the flame-retardant insulation off of the copper wire in order to sell the copper to a scrap metal dealer.
The article's author describes the scene as follows:
"They break copper yokes off picture tubes, littering the ground with shards containing lead, a neurotoxin, and cadmium, a carcinogen that damages lungs and kidneys. They strip resalable parts such as drives and memory chips. Then they rip out the wiring and burn the plastic. [Mensah] sells copper stripped from one scrap load to buy another. The key to making money is speed, not safety. 'The gas goes to your nose and you feel something in your head,' Mensah says, knocking his fist against the back of his skull for effect. 'Then you get sick in your head and your chest.' Nearby, hulls of broken monitors float in the lagoon. Tomorrow the rain will wash them into the ocean."
The problem is especially severe in Asia, particularly China. The organization called the Basel Action Network, or BAN, which is opposed to the shipment of hazardous waste to poor countries in the developing world, did an eye-opening documentary on the town of Guiyu in Guangdong Province called Exporting Harm. According to BAN's press release, they found that:
"men, women and children toiling under primitive conditions, often unaware of the health and environmental hazards involved in operations which include open burning of plastics and wires, riverbank acid works to extract gold, melting and burning of toxic soldered circuit boards and the cracking and dumping of toxic lead laden cathode ray tubes. The investigative team witnessed many tons of the E-waste simply being dumped along rivers, in open fields and irrigation canals in the rice growing area. Already the pollution in Guiyu has become so devastating that well water is no longer drinkable and thus water has to be trucked in from 30 kilometers away for the entire population."
The problem is only destined to become worse, at least for the foreseeable future. The National Geographic article cites "Moore's Law", named after Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, who "observed that computer processing power roughly doubles every two years." That means, according to the article, "that at any given time, all the machines considered state-of-the-art are simultaneously on the verge of obsolesence." Furthermore, "a switchover to digital high-definition television broadcasts is scheduled to be complete by 2009, rendering inoperable TVs that function perfectly today but receive only an analog signal."
Below is a segment from a Canadian news report that provides a useful, if grim summary, on the problem. It is worth watching.
It is natural for us to think that once we put something out on the curb to be collected by the sanitation department, we no longer have to care about what happens to our trash. But what we buy and how we dispose of it has real consequences for real people in many places around the globe. Now that you have read this post, you can't say you haven't been put on notice.
Saudi Justice
While perusing through my copy of Eyewitness to History last night for my post Things Left Unsaid, I came across a Westerner's description of two executions he witnessed in Saudi Arabia in 1958.
A man and a woman were found guilty of murdering the woman's husband and both were sentenced to death. The man was publicly decapitated with a sword. Then it was the woman's turn. But was her fate to be executed as swiftly and painlessly as the man? Nope. Not a chance.
"The recital of her crime...was read out as she knelt, and then the executioner stepped forward with a wooden stave and dealt a hundred blows with all his strength on her shoulder."
"As the flogging ended the woman sagged over on her side."
"Next, a lorry loaded with rocks and stones was backed up and its cargo deposited in a pile. At a signal from the prince the crowd leaped on the stones and started pelting the woman to death."
"It was difficult to determine how she was facing her last and awful ordeal, since she was veiled in Muslim fashion and her mouth was gagged in order to muffle her cries." (After all, why spoil a good stoning by letting the stoners actually hear the agonized cries of the woman they were stoning. Can't let them feel any twinges of mercy or compassion, right?)
"Had this scene been taking place in the middle of the desert it would have been grim enough, but that it should have been enacted in the heart of modern Jeddah's business neighborhood lent it a dismally macabre quality."
"The crowd were no longer silent. The men snarled and shouted as they flung their stones, their faces transformed into masks of sadism."
And finally, "It took just over an hour before the doctor in attendance, who halted the stoning periodically to feel the victim's pulse, announced her dead."
A man and a woman were found guilty of murdering the woman's husband and both were sentenced to death. The man was publicly decapitated with a sword. Then it was the woman's turn. But was her fate to be executed as swiftly and painlessly as the man? Nope. Not a chance.
"The recital of her crime...was read out as she knelt, and then the executioner stepped forward with a wooden stave and dealt a hundred blows with all his strength on her shoulder."
"As the flogging ended the woman sagged over on her side."
"Next, a lorry loaded with rocks and stones was backed up and its cargo deposited in a pile. At a signal from the prince the crowd leaped on the stones and started pelting the woman to death."
"It was difficult to determine how she was facing her last and awful ordeal, since she was veiled in Muslim fashion and her mouth was gagged in order to muffle her cries." (After all, why spoil a good stoning by letting the stoners actually hear the agonized cries of the woman they were stoning. Can't let them feel any twinges of mercy or compassion, right?)
"Had this scene been taking place in the middle of the desert it would have been grim enough, but that it should have been enacted in the heart of modern Jeddah's business neighborhood lent it a dismally macabre quality."
"The crowd were no longer silent. The men snarled and shouted as they flung their stones, their faces transformed into masks of sadism."
And finally, "It took just over an hour before the doctor in attendance, who halted the stoning periodically to feel the victim's pulse, announced her dead."
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